A local health care leader with more than 20 years of community hospital experience has been chosen to lead Franklin Woods Community Hospital. Mountain States Health Alliance officials announced Friday that Lindy White will become the hospital’s new CEO, replacing Tony Benton, who was recently promoted within the organization.

White currently serves as CEO of Smyth County Community Hospital in Marion, Va., a position she has held since 2005.

Her relationship with the hospital began long before that, as she was born there in 1970. During college, she performed her first accounting internship at Smyth County, and started working there full time in 1992 as a staff accountant. She was promoted to assistant vice president of finance in 1995, and became the hospital’s chief financial officer in 2000, followed by a promotion to CEO five years later.

“We are proud of the work Lindy has done at Smyth County Community Hospital, and we are so excited that she has now agreed to lead the team at Franklin Woods,” said Tony Benton, interim CEO of Washington County, Tenn., operations for Mountain States Health Alliance. “Lindy is a valued colleague and an inspiring leader; I am confident that she will be a good fit for the Franklin Woods family that I have come to know and love over the past few years.”

During her tenure at Smyth County Community Hospital, White helped to set the strategic vision for the hospital and was instrumental in the hospital board’s selection of Mountain States Health Alliance as a strategic partner. Under White’s direction, the hospital officially joined Mountain States in 2006. In partnership with the health system, White led the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility for Smyth County Community Hospital, which opened in 2012

White earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting and economics at Emory & Henry College, in Emory, Va., and her master’s degree in business administration at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. She is a certified fellow of the Advisory Board Company. In 2014, White was appointed by the governor of Virginia to serve on the board of directors for the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center. She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Smyth County and served as the Virginia Highlands United Way chairman in 2012 and 2013.